Individuality: Embrace it.

At the moment of writing this, I am sitting at a desktop in the media center at my school, during my lunch/free period. I actually thought of this blog post idea while riding on the way to school this morning. Oh the thoughts that pop into my head at random times. It was cold this morning too. I didn’t think I needed a coat, but when I started walking outside, it was like 35 degrees! Michigan weather is so unpredictable.

Most people will open up blog posts with some huge metaphor, or a nice picture. Me? Nah. I mean I do have some amazing metaphors and some cool pictures. But I write on this blog because my goal is to be me! Starting with a metaphor that alludes to some symbol, sure I can do it, but if you want the real, raw, Emma. You will get random and crazy. Which actually brings me to the main topic of this post.

We are all individuals, right?
“Well duh, Emma. Thanks captain obvious.”
Okay, yeah. So then why do we act like one another? Why do we dress like one another? Agree with one another on opinions we may not have? Who is this mystery person we are all trying to be like? The person you are portraying is probably trying to portray someone else, and them someone else, so on and so forth. So who is at the start of it all?

You know what I think?
I don’t care.

“Ooh, that’s kind of harsh, Emma.”
Is it though?

I don’t care who everyone is trying to be like because:
a) it doesn’t exist
b) no one can be perfect
c) it’s robbing you from being yourself

And just so you know, I like me. Not being narcissistic, but the qualities that make me who I am, I love it!
But what makes individuality so much more intriguing is that we get to see parts of people we’ve never seen before.

I recently read an article that stated my generation is becoming one of the most open about life, struggles, etc.
That’s individuality. We all have different stories, different paths we’ve traveled. But when we share about it, people realize they aren’t alone. We connect through it.

Conformity makes us lose connections and friendships because all we care about it doing things right, doing things to be liked. But when we are our true selves and let it shine bright–embrace it–it’s admirable. It’s amazing. It’s what makes us stick out from the rest.